Sal Khan teaches math, science, and history to millions of students, but none has ever seen his face.
Khan is the voice and brains behind the Khan Academy–a free online tutoring site that was born out of a young cousin’s struggles with algebra in 1994. His classroom has grown from a few hundred pupils to more than 4 million a month.
Khan, 35, believes he can transform education worldwide, and his approach is now being tested in American schools. Along the way, the former hedge fund analyst has won the support of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who calls Khan "a teacher of the world."
He has since founded a nonprofit with a simple but ambitious goal: "to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere." CBS’ news magazine "60 Minutes" (see segment video below) caught up with Khan at his startup’s tiny office, located above a tea shop in Silicon Valley.
It all began when he agreed to remotely tutor his cousin Nadia, a seventh-grader in New Orleans, with her algebra. He recorded the 15-minute lessons and posted them to YouTube. They proved helpful to Nadia–and to total strangers who stumbled upon them and sent him letters.